Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it.
Now I understand why the old poets of China went so far
and high into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.
"The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver

Socioeconomic Integration in the Pacific Since 1760: A Public Lecture

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Category: News @ UP Asian Center

The Asian Center will host a public lecture, “Socio-Economic Integration in the Pacific Since 1760: Linking Historical Trends to Today” by Dr. Robert Hellyer on Monday, 1 December 2014, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Seminar Room, Hall of Wisdom, GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center, Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman.

In his lecture, Dr. Hellyer points out several phases of and reasons for integration that began in 1760. He looks at Britain’s, Japan’s and the United States’ trade relations with China; examines “a second, long century of socioeconomic integration in the Pacific” in the 1860s; and ends in the 1970s and 1980s, when China and Japan turned to “export-driven economies,” a trend that eventually led to the re-emergence of China’s prominence in global trade. “By presenting these long-term historical perspectives,” Dr. Hellyer identifies the “intersections of contemporary and historical trends in the Pacific,” which inform current research on “the world’s largest maritime region.” 

Robert Hellyer, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of History at Wake Forest University, North Carolina. He teaches courses in Japanese, East Asian, and World History, and has taken up research positions at Tokyo University, the Newberry Library, Harvard University, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He has published on Japanese tea exports and 18th and 19th century Japanese foreign relations. His articles include “The West, the East, and the Insular Middle: Trading Systems, Demand, and Labour in the Integration of the Pacific” published in the Journal of Global History and “Intra-Asian Trade and the Bakumatsu Crisis: Reconsidering Tokugawa Commercial Policies in Late Edo Japan” (International Journal of Asian Studies). 

This public lecture is organized and moderated by Dr. Tina S. Clemente, Assistant Professor at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. Seats are limited. Please pre-register by sending an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For more information, please contact Kat or Janus at 981.8500 local 3586 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..